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WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart steps down after 7 years
23 Jun 2026

Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp for the past seven years, is stepping down from his position.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the change on Facebook on Monday.

Kunal Shah, founder of Indian fintech start-up CRED, will succeed Cathcart as WhatsApp's new leader.

As part of this transition, Meta will invest $900 million in CRED for a 20% stake in the company.

Cathcart's tenure and achievements
Leadership transition

Cathcart took over as WhatsApp's head in 2019. During his tenure, he oversaw major changes like the launch of encrypted chat backups in 2021.

He also led the expansion of WhatsApp to iPad, introduction of ads, and addition of private chats with Meta's AI chatbot.

Despite stepping down from his current role, Cathcart will continue to work at Meta in a new capacity.

Shah takes over as new WhatsApp head
New leadership

Shah will step down as CEO of CRED to take over WhatsApp.

Zuckerberg praised Shah for building CRED into one of India's most important tech companies and said he has the "builder mentality and global perspective" needed to run the world's biggest messaging app.

This change comes at a time when WhatsApp is undergoing a major transition.

Recent innovations in AI and privacy
Platform evolution

Under Cathcart, WhatsApp recently launched Meta's AI assistant powered by its latest model, Muse Spark.

The platform also introduced privacy-focused features like "incognito chat," which uses confidential computing infrastructure with chips from AMD and NVIDIA.

This feature ensures that conversations are not visible even to Meta, although it limits the company's ability to train its AI systems.

Ads introduced in Updates tab for monetization
Growth trajectory

In 2026, WhatsApp started showing ads in its Updates tab, marking its first major foray into advertising.

Despite this move, the company maintained that personal chats, calls, and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted and outside the advertising system.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp Business has grown rapidly across India with millions of small businesses using it for customer engagement through free and paid tools.